Not so Secret
by popsie
Summary: the Stark group chat when Ned, Jon, and Robb attempt to sneak six puppies into the house without Catelyn knowing. Turns out some are more technologically advanced than previously thought OR Cat finds out that her children sneak their respective others in and out of the house and that her husband will do anything for his children and more importantly, for a puppy (or six)


_chat: 'WOLF PACK (minus mum + dad)'_

_Sansa added Ned to the conversation_

**Arya:** mum's gonna be pissed

like never-before-seen PISSED

Also can dad see the earlier messages?

**Ned: **Arya. Please do not swear. Dad x

Why is everyone getting these messages? Have I done something wrong? Dad x

These are all for Arya only. Dad x

**Sansa: **dad you don't have to sign every text. We all know who sent what

and its our group chat. All of the kids are in it.

**Arya: **ROBB! JON! CAN DAD SEE THE EARLIER MESSAGES?

**Jon:** Robb's just checked his phone and NO, he can't

**Ned: **Still getting used to this technology sweetheart. Robb said it is a group message. Dad x

So I could send a text and all of you could see it? Dad x

_Sansa liked ^ this message_

**Ned:** Regardless of who is seeing this, we are setting off from the breeders now. Puppies all loaded into the cars and rearing to go! Dad x

**Arya:** Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaad

**Robb: **I thought Marg tried explaining what a group chat was at dinner last week?

**Ned: **_typing_

**Ned: **_typing_

**Ned: **_typing_

**Ned: **_typing_

**Ned:** xrctyubiopl[oj tcytvuygihuoji 23edfgeaw

**Robb: **think he's forgotten to lock his phone. A classic Dad pocket text.

BUT we all know the plan

Mum won't find out until its too late and we can't take them back

Simple

**Bran: **Mum thinks somethings up already.

just saying.

**Robb: **? HOW ?

**Bran: **Rickon's just asked if we have any bones that could be eaten.

*just for fun* apparently.

**Theon: **lmao

what did Cat say?

**Bran: **that he's been hanging around you and Arya too much recently.

_Sansa liked ^ this message_

_Robb liked ^ this message_

_Gendry liked ^ this message_

**Arya: **BABE! betrayal!

**Gendry: **sorry. also your bra isn't in the kitchen so it must be with you in the bedroom

**Robb:** CAN YOU NOT BROADCAST YOU AND MY LITTLE SISTER ON THE FAMILY GROUP CHAT

**Margaery: **baby, I did explain it to your dad but i think it went in one ear and out of the other

the game was on at the time...

and leave Arya and Gendry alone. You know how annoying it is when we can't find our clothes

**Sansa:** back to the task at hand! PLEASE!

how far away are you?

**Robb: **dunno

hang on Jon's driving

about half an hour according to him

Dad maybe a little slower

He's stuck behind a tractor a few cars behind us

**Arya: **as long as my puppy is in ur car then idc

**Sansa:** ditto

**Robb:** we have ours and Bran's

tough luck

also get home before us and make gendry park his truck around back

**Arya: **FUCK!

**Gendry: **also babe we have to leave now if we are gonna make it back before your dad

and still can't find ur bra

_Robb disliked ^ this message_

**Arya: **DOUBLE FUCK!

_Sansa liked ^ this message_

Sansa scoffed as she locked her phone. She had been glued to her family's group chat since her father, Robb and Jon had snuck out of the house before breakfast to pick up the puppies they had managed to convince their father to get on board with after months of pestering.

Downstairs in the kitchen, Sansa could hear Rickon and her mother talking about something which she assumed was nine-year-old Rickon's subtle way of talking about the puppies. No wonder her mother thought something was going on, she thought to herself.

As she left her room, Sansa crossed the hall and entered Arya's messy room. She carefully picked her way across the floor scattered with sports clothes and the occasional hockey stick to reach her sister's large window. Sansa pulled the curtains apart and unlatched the window. Using one of Arya's lesser used hardback textbooks, Sansa propped the window open and looked out over the expansive garden.

Arya's room looked out over the roof of the attached garage and she knew through experience that one could easily climb up onto the garage's roof from the bonnet of a car and carefully clamber into Arya's bedroom window after crawling across the roof.

Sansa unlocked her phone and sent a quick text to the chat.

_Sansa removed 'Ned' from the conversation._

**Sansa: **opened your window Arya

text me or Bran when distraction is needed

**Arya: ** THANKYOU!

Sansa smiled at her screen and pocketed her phone once more as she left her sister's room. The Starks' home was large and usually full to the brim with noise since Robb, Theon and Jon arrived back from Winterfell University for the summer, but with Ned and two of the boys in question out retrieving the puppies, Arya driving back to sneak in with Gendry and Theon supposedly returning some library books, the house was quiet.

Catelyn was humming to herself in the open-plan kitchen with Rickon sat at the island chewing on some cereal with a slight pout. The TV on the far wall was tuned to the local news station and Sansa winked as her little brother shot her a toothy, milk-stained grin when she entered.

"Morning sweetheart," Catelyn said as Sansa pressed a kiss to the side of her mother's head. "Did you manage to find Arya or has she not snuck back in yet?"

Sansa's eyebrows rose and she faltered.

"I don't know what you mean," she said slowly as Cat poured her a cup of steaming tea and set in on the island next to Rickon.

"Don't think you have me fooled Sansa Stark. Arya snuck out to spend the night with Gendry, just like Theon is over at that Dacey Mormont's right now. I am not blind," Catelyn told her as Rickon giggled into his spoon.

"Don't think you are in my good books either, mister. All this talk about bones and how I would feel if something dug up my flower beds is not the usual topic of conversation at breakfast," Catelyn warned and Rickon blushed. The two siblings looked sheepish under their mother's gaze. "Is Margaery awake yet?"

**Sansa: **...busted

**Robb: **Huh?

How does she know about the puppies?

**Sansa: **She doesn't.

Mum knows where you are Theon

and that Arya is sneaking back in with Gendry

She also wants to know when Marg will be coming down for breakfast

**Arya: **THIS IS IT

THIS IS NOT A DRILL

MUM IS GOING TO KILL US ALL

STARTING WITH YOU ROBB

**Robb:** Why me first?

she likes Marg

And she knows we're in a relationship

Mum can't say the same about Arya and Gendry

**Margaery: **I fell back asleep and its taken a while to catch up on the chat but I would just like to tell you all it was nice knowing you. Robb, I loved you but I am about to be murdered by your mother

Tell my brother I love him and that he can have my things

**Sansa: **can I have your YSL heels then?

**Margaery: **ONLY if you help me when I get down there

I have blackmail on you Stark don't forget!

Sansa swore under her breath as Cat placed a plate of scrambled eggs in front of her. Margaery and Arya were the only ones who knew about her and Jon's relationship. Sansa thought that if her mother were to find out that she was sleeping with the kid her parents had practically adopted as another son when Robb had brought him home on the first day of kindergarten, Catelyn would probably have a stroke and kill Jon Snow with her bare hands. Not necessarily in that order.

The one rule the Starks had was that boyfriends/girlfriends could stay over, no problem, but they had to stay in a guest room in the outhouse. Margaery usually stuck to this rule but she had been slipping into the house after everyone went to bed since the couple had come home for the summer from uni.

Before Sansa could dwell on on the threat too much, Margaery appeared in the doorframe of the kitchen with an uncomfortable smile. She was dressed in one of Robb's rugby shirts and a pair of pajama bottoms that she had stashed in her boyfriend's wardrobe.

"Good morning," Margaery said as Catelyn set another plate down next to Sansa with a raised eyebrow.

"Good morning Margaery. I hope you slept well," Cat said and Margaery nodded, uncharacteristically shy. Usually, the two women were as close as a mother and the girlfriend of her eldest son could be. "Robb didn't wake you when he left, did he? I know Ned is as loud as anything in the morning."

Sansa and Margaery shared a slightly panicked look.

"Uh..."

A beep echoed in the pantry and Catelyn smiled at the girls. "That's the laundry. I won't be a moment," she said as she excused herself, leaving the pair to grip each other.

"How does she know?" Margaery hissed and Sansa shrugged.

"Rickon? Have you told mum anything?" Sansa asked her little brother who shook his head.

"I'm not an idiot. Robb was paying me too well to say anything and Arya scares me. Jon also made sure I wouldn't say anything. Theon said he didn't care," Rickon told the two as he sipped the leftover milk directly from the bowl.

"You know about Jon and I?" Sansa questioned. "Gods!"

"I think everyone but dad and Robb know about you and Jon," he told her. "Could you change the channel. The news is boring."

Sansa rolled her eyes as Margaery handed the youngest Stark the remote control.

**Sansa: **Mum knows EVERYTHING

Not just the puppies but everything!

G

**Robb:** Was it Rickon?

That kid's prices for silence are verging on extortion

**Gendry:** We're here

Climb through the window or just walk through the front door?

**Margaery:** The front door. The game is up

**Arya:** WAIT

Robb you were paying Rickon too?

How much?

**Theon:** What would you do if someone said you don't have to add 1000 question marks after each fucking statement Arya?

_Sansa liked ^ this message_

_Robb liked ^ this message_

**Arya:** there are not enough ? and ! in the world that will express how confused and pissed off you make me Theon

But seriously! Robb and I were both paying Rickon for his silence when mum ALREADY KNEW

Are you shitting me?

**Bran: **Jon was paying him too so it looks like Rickon is the real winner here

**Theon: **LMAO

Thank fuck I never gave him a penny that thieving little bastard

Good on Rickon!

**Robb: **What would Jon be paying Rickon to keep quiet about?

**Theon: **Aren't you in the car with him now dumbass?

**Robb: **Oh fuck yeah

He said ask you Sansa?

**Sansa:** this is seriously not happening rn

**Margaery: **Robb, it's a good job you're pretty

The front door swung open and Arya led Gendry into the expansive entryway with cautious eyes. She toed off her boots and held up her finger as Gendry began to say hello to Sansa and Margaery who he could see were sat at the island in the kitchen.

"Shush!" Arya hissed. "She could be anywhere."

Gendry laughed and pressed a kiss to his girlfriend's head. "She's not going to shoot me on the spot, babe," he told her. "We will just tell her like the adults we are."

"Morning love birds!" Margaery called as the couple entered the kitchen. Arya stood looking around with suspicion as Gendry greeted the girls and helped himself to the breakfast on the stove. "Welcome to the busted club."

"Where's Mum?" Arya asked as Gendry handed her a plate and sat opposite Rickon. "And how far away are the boys?"

As if on queue, all of their phones dinged as a text from Robb lit us their screens.

**Robb: **10 mins away

**Theon: **I'm just pulling into the drive and Gendry's took my fucking space

**Gendry: **first come first serve Greyjoy

there are no reserved parking spots

pls don't rear-end me

park where Jon does

**Robb: **jon says 'find another spot Greyjoy or I will key your fucking car'

bit harsh but its a direct quote mate

**Theon: **God Snow. That's fucking harsh :(

Sansa grinned as she read through the text thread. The door connecting the house to the garage opened and slammed shut as Theon entered. He dropped the library book he had supposedly been returning next to the shoe rack as he kicked off his trainers.

"How is it possible? I mean seriously, how does she know everything?" Theon said as he entered the kitchen as began making a round of toast. "Bet its witchcraft."

Rickon shushed them all, complaining that he couldn't hear the TV.

"Don't say anything horrible. Catelyn's doing the laundry," Margaery told Theon as he ran a hand through his unruly hair.

"Look, that woman is practically my mother so I feel its okay to say-" Theon began but he quickly shut up and turned to inspect the toaster as if it was the most interesting thing in the world.

"Good morning Theon, Gendry, Arya," Catelyn said as she re-entered the kitchen to see more children gathered around the island. "If anyone has any darks that need doing just bring them down and I'll pop them in with the next load."

There was a non-commital round of answers as none of them met her eyes.

"Rickon, let's go and get you showered and your room tidied before your father and brothers get home," she said finally, smoothly switching off the wall-mounted TV as she passed it, much to her youngest son's disappointment.

"Mum!" he groaned but the sharp look Cat gave him made Rickon slide off his chair without any further complaint.

"Help yourselves to breakfast kids," Catelyn called over her shoulder as she left the four teens, her usual smirk on her lips.

"It's worse when she nice," Theon groaned.

**Robb: **just coming up the drive

T-minus a minute folks

The four simultaneously looked at the text on their phones and then at one another.

"Catelyn Stark is going to commit..." Theon hesitated as he plucked the toast from the toaster and dropped it on his plate in a shower of crumbs. "What is it called when you kill nine people?"

"She won't kill Ned," Gendry said but Theon's answering look made he scrunch up his eyebrows. "At least I don't think she will," he added uncertainly.

"She won't," Margaery assured him as they heard the rumble of two engines cut out. "Oh gods, they're here."

**Jon: **We need two in the garage to grab puppies. One to be lookout as we carry the puppies into the den and someone to brew Ned an extra large, extra strong coffee

**Arya:** Gendry and I are coming to the garage now

**Sansa: **Mum's upstairs with Rickon

**Robb: **I think Dad may pass out with excitement

Sansa scoffed and tidied away hers and Margaery's plates as Arya, Gendry and Margaery left to help them in the garage. She could already hear the soft yapping of puppies as car doors opened and closed.

Theon rolled his neck and sighed as it clicked, much to Sansa's discomfort. "I don't even like dogs so this should be interesting. Where's Bran?"

**Sansa: **Bran? Where are you?

**Bran: **_typing_

**Bran: **_typing_

**Bran: **_typing_

**Robb:** OMG Meera Reed just climbed down off the garage roof and onto the bonnet of Theon's car!

Holy shit she's legging it down the drive before Dad sees her

Wow

Meera Reed _can_ _run_

Bran was suddenly in the kitchen, breathing heavily as he skidded in his socks on the tiled floor. "Don't tell Mum!"

Sansa and Theon were laughing hysterically, gripping their sides as Bran adjusted his glasses and scowled.

"Oh my god! Bran has a girlfriend!"

"He's sneaking her into the house!"

"You're no better than the rest of us!" they teased.

Ned was in the entryway, motioning to them, oblivious to the conversation topic. "Come on before your mother comes back down. Arya's struggling to get the bows on the puppies."

Sansa, Theon, Margaery, and Bran followed Ned through the house to the den where Robb, Jon, Gendry and Arya were trying in vain to wrap big red bows around the necks of the six puppies who preferred chewing on them to wearing them.

"Oh my god, they're so cute!" Sansa said as a fluffy white puppy made a bee-line for her as soon as she entered the den.

Theon sneezed loudly into the crook of his elbow, his allergies already flaring. "God, they stink."

"So do you," Arya replied quickly, sticking her tongue out at him.

"Not as bad as your car did last Friday night," Theon teased and Arya glared at him. It was bad enough that Theon had smoked half of her stash with her, now he was using it as blackmail.

"You owe me for that you know," she said under her breath as Ned scooped up two puppies with an ear-to-ear grin.

"I'll buy you a couple of grams next weekend. That satisfy you?" Theon asked and Arya nodded tightly.

Robb handed the small puppy in his arms to Margaery and he cleared his throat.

"Okay, we all know the plan. Leave the puppies in here whilst Dad goes and gets Mum. Then Bran and Arya are going to launch into the whole 'puppies-build-responsibility-and-character' speech. I guess Arya could also slip in the fact that she sneaks Gendry in most nights," he added as an afterthought.

"Robb!" Arya said as she looked warily over at her father but Ned was too absorbed in playing with the puppy in his arms and either hadn't heard his son or didn't care.

"Mum already knows," Sansa told them all. "Bran and Arya, go and help Mum tidy Rickon's room and wait for our text," she ordered and the two looked at one another and then at Sansa with identical raised brows.

"What makes you think we'd do that?" Bran asked.

"Cause I know you steal my underwear to give to Meera when she forgets to bring a spare pair of her own," Sansa sasses back and Bran nodded and left without any more complaint.

"Did you?" Arya asked just before she left.

Sansa shrugged. "No, but it makes sense now."

"That's you off the hook, Snow," Theon grinned as Robb looked cluelessly between his siblings.

**Bran: **okay, Rickon's finished in the bath and is running around half-naked and Mum is practically done with his room so hurry it up.

**Arya: **fuck the bows, she's coming down NOW!

"Dad! Mum's coming down the stairs," Robb said, pulling Ned out of his puppy stupor.

Dazed, Ned looked up and then down at the six puppies who were running around the den in various stages of play. One was chewing on one of the decorative pillows on the sofa whilst two of them were chasing each other. A fourth was yapping at Margaery as she dangled her fingers near its nose. The two in Ned's arms were dozing. Ned's happy, content smile wained slowly and he suddenly looked pained. He set the two sleeping dogs down gently.

"She's going to kill me," he said, looking around the den with wide eyes. It seemed as if Ned only realized the weight of his actions at that moment.

**Bran: **managed to get her to bypass the den in favor of the kitchen.

The door to the den opened and all inside turned, looking like deers caught in headlights as Arya and Bran slipped back into the room with Rickon who was desperate to see the puppies.

"They're so small!" he said in awe as a small grey puppy wandered closer to him. "Bagsy this one!"

"Okay, scrap the plan. Dad, what are we gonna do?" Robb asked as Ned shook his head.

"I never thought this far ahead," Ned said honestly. "I always thought I would have talked her round by the time we got them."

**Catelyn: **bring the puppies into the conservatory and we can start preparing lunch together as a family

"Did everyone else see the text Mum sent to the group chat?" Sansa said slowly. She repeatedly exited and entered the chat, checking who was in the 'WOLF PACK (minus mum + dad)' chat.

"You're shitting me," Arya said in a deadpan voice.

"Arya, language," Ned warned. "I didn't get any text."

"Sansa removed you Dad," Bran told him and Sansa flicked his ear.

Ned frowned. "But who let your mother in the chat?"

The Stark children looked between each other warily.

The door to the den opened and Catelyn stood in the doorframe with crossed arms and her phone in one hand. The small puppy close to the door wandered through her legs and into the hallway.

"Did you all forget that this chat was originally an entire family chat that _I_ created?" Catelyn asked.

"You mean to say you've been reading our texts for months?" Arya said in a small voice. The chat was a safe space for the Starks to put anything and if Catelyn had been keeping up with it, she would know all the ins and outs of her children's relationships, school lives and Arya and Theon's recreational drug habit.

Catelyn rolled her eyes. "Of course not! Its muted usually. I got a text from your father saying one of the puppies had fallen asleep on his lap and he attached a picture."

Ned groaned as he remembered.

"He then sent several texts telling me to ignore that and then asking Sansa to remove the message since he thought it was the group chat but it was just between the two of us so I thought I'd have a quick look."

"Dad!"

Ned held up his hands in surrender. "I am not good with technology!"

"So you knew about the puppies?" Margaery asked as she scooped up the little grey pup who had taken a shine to Robb.

Catelyn nodded with a wide smile. "Of course! I've known about them for weeks."

"How?" Sansa questioned. "We were so careful!"

"The breeder, Roslin Frey, is my brother's wife. Edmure phoned a few weeks ago asking if I wanted any help puppy-proofing the house," she told them with a fond grin. "If he hadn't, I wouldn't have known."

"So..." Arya began hesitantly. "You didn't read anything else on the chat?"

Catelyn raised an eyebrow. "Whatever could you mean Arya? Oh? Are you talking about yourself and Gendry? Or Bran and Meera Reed? How about Robb and Margaery or maybe Jon and Sansa?"

Ned and Robb looked at Jon and Sansa when Cat said their names.

"What?"

"WHAT?"

Sansa sighed and wrapped an arm around Jon. "This is Jon Snow. My boyfriend," she told them.

"Our brother?" Robb said slowly.

Margaery laid a steadying hand on Robb's arm. "Sweetheart, Jon is like _your_ brother, just like Sansa and I would say we were sisters." Robb nodded slowly, the muscles in his jaw ticking as he accepted all that was being said to him.

"Are you happy?" was all Ned said.

Sansa beamed as Jon grinned and kissed her temple whilst he hugged her close. "Extremely."

"Then that is all that matters to me. The same rules apply when staying over."

Arya screwed up her brows. "Dad, Jon has his own room on the top floor," she said but she sounded confused.

"And I think we need to go over the rules with _everyone,_" Catelyn added in warning to her children. "And we should let the puppies out in the garden since I made sure the fences and hedges were secure and that they couldn't escape."

"You did?" Ned said as his eyebrows lifted in surprise. "When did you do that?"

Catelyn grinned and kissed his lips. "I am the one with all the secrets Eddard Stark."

_22:13 pm_

**Robb:** am I the only one who still cannot think of a name?

**Sansa: **YEAH HURRY UP !

I can't post online until they all have names or it just looks stupid

**Bran: **Rickon and Theon can't decide on a name yet for their puppy.

**Sansa: **I miss Lady already

Why did we agree to let them sleep downstairs rather than in our beds

**Arya: **Why didn't we just get Theon his own puppy?

**Theon: **CAUSE DOGS ARE AWFUL CREATURES AND I DON'T WANT ONE

AND

WE AREN'T SHARING THAT DUMB MUTT

**Bran: **then why were you cuddling the dog after dinner?

_Jon liked ^ this message_

**Theon: **fuck u four-eyes

**Arya: **that's Meera Reed's job Theon ;)

_Robb liked ^ this message_

**Sansa: **ahahaaahaa

**Bran: **oops.

**Robb: **?

**Arya: **what did you do Bran?

**Bran: **nothing.

just texted mum that's all.

**Arya: **MUM'S INSPECTING BEDS

BOYFRIENDS/GIRLFRIENDS ABORT!

**Margaery: **I can't come down the stairs without running past her

**Jon: **hide under the bed or in the wardrobe, thats what i'm doing

**Gendry: **... FUCK

I wish we had thought of that

**Sansa: **Mum's heading to your room Arya

**Theon: **where are you gendry?

omfg Robb look out of your window and then straight down

take a photo!

**Jon:** whats happening?

Is the coast clear Sans?

**Sansa: **yeah

**Robb: ***picture attatched*

Gendry is tangled in Arya's curtains and flopping on the garage roof trapped

omfg Mum's seen him

and me

SHIT

_Robb added Catelyn to the conversation_

**Catelyn:** house wide grounding is now in effect

starting tomorrow

Goodnight, love you all xoxo

_Catelyn has left the conversation_

**Robb: **she took my phone and added herself

who taught her that?

**Arya: **who cares, someone come help me get Gendry off the roof before he falls

**Sansa:** night night. i'm fast asleep zzzzzz

**Jon: **sorry, cannot get out of your sister's bed until sunrise.

I don't make the rules

**Sansa: **no, I do

;)

**Robb:** stop flirting on main

**Bran: **night fam. no hard feelings. just revenge.

**Margaery: **can Catelyn ground me too? Do I count?

omg will she take _my_ phone?

Can she do that?

**Theon: **shut up I am trying to sleep

**Sansa: **N

I

G

H

T

**Jon: **ditto

**Robb: **GOOD NIGHT TO EVERYONE EXCEPT THEON WHO IS BEING GRUMPY

_Theon has left the conversation_

_Sansa added Theon to the conversation_

**Theon: **thanks, I regretted that instantly

also, we decided on the name 'summer' for the dog


End file.
